Magdy's Galaxy...

To Music (Soundtracks/Orchestras) Fans: Do you listen to Epic music?

2010-03-29T21:36:00.001+02:00

Okay, I am a guy on mother earth who is addicted to Music. especially soundtracks and strong emotional deep music.

So, Do you, follow folks on mother earth, listen to ‘Epic music’?

Epic music (genre)! Yea! I am not talking about film soundtracks/scores but trailer soundtracks/scores (As you might guess, this is the music that's made to accompany the trailer for the movie) which is almost never done by the same person who scored for the film, rather it is done by companies (music composition companies) devoted to trailer scores. Trailer scores are a *lot* more obscure than film soundtracks, partially because most of the companies don't sell their music to the public! (although many tracks and entire albums are leaked onto YouTube and file sharing websites like rapidshare).

So yes, they are quite unknown :( and that's a shame because they are amazing! Hence, I thought to write this post.

Some companies that make trailer scores are:
- Two Steps From Hell
- AudioMachine
- City of The Fallen
- X-Ray Dog
- Future World Music
- Epic Score
- Immediate Music
- Brand X Music
- ...
and there are much much more!

Seriously, their music is AWESOME! Full of Choirs and beautiful Orchestra!

If interested, youtube/google about them! :)

My favorites: (I just have few albums btw)
Two Steps From Hell, City of the fallen & AudioMachine..

Samples:

After The Fall - Two Steps From Hell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBuz9ul88bs

Moving mountains - Two Steps from Hell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjlBCAx6330

Equus - Two Steps From Hell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr1Om18sL0E

Forces of Destiny - Two Steps from Hell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4tOrRgnxfU

Illuminati - AudioMachine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw9C0Rgt8_4&feature=related

Inductive Reasoning - Audiomachine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfEKS5Dkz5E

Avatar Trailer Music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyxA1rRE3-0
(the trailer has 3 tracks:
1st: My Name Is Lincoln by Steve Jablonsky from The Island Soundtrack
2nd: Guardians at the Gates by Audiomachine
3rd: Akkadian Empire by Audiomachine)

Hero's Journey - Audiomachine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBdK0TuRMoE

Breath And Life - AudioMachine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGKyCJGNO5E

Throne Of Divinity - City Of The Fallen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik_TUUTNgAg

Ashes - City Of The Fallen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2txOU4Bjcw

---

That’s enough, go youtube by yourself! XD

Now I will just sit back and let these kind of music overwhelm me! best moments when high choir (humming)!! ... Enjoy folks! :)

Demo From My Graduation Project!

2010-03-29T19:31:00.000+02:00

As the title says…

Demo from my graduation project… Done on June 2009.

Project Name: “Free Hand Sketch Recognition For Visualizing Interactive Physics”

Code Name: Raccoon

Video:

About:

The aim of the project is to develop a natural sketching system that allows the users to sketch different objects to draw simple two-dimensional classical mechanics physical model in natural and freely way as they would on paper. The user then shall be able to interact with the design, simulate and visualize the model at any point of time in design process, and watch how the objects interact together.

Main Modules: Recognition, Reasoning, Simulator and User Interface

My Responsibility: The Simulator module; which consists of two components: Physics Engine & Graphical Layer.

Technology used:
Microsoft .Net framework 3.5 [C#] ; Visual C++ (Visual Studio 2008) ; Matlab 7.3 ; OpenGL 2.1 [ + GLUT (The OpenGL Utility Toolkit)] ; LyX: to write the documentation

Notes!

The project targets two sections: students study physics and mechanics, and mechanical engineers to prototype quite simple machines.

Actually, the project isn't completed yet, there is a 'gap' in the graphical layer part (visualization); it does not support all the features provided by the physics engine (simulation) or the recognition module. Besides, the reasoning module still needs some work. (The main rule of reasoning module: make the system understands (not recognize) 'every' stroke the user draws; so s/he doesn't need the menus at all but draws as s/he would exactly do on a piece of paper)

Example of features kind of lost because of the gaps between the modules: pin-joint, rod, complex polygon, spring (spring system).., analysis and plot certain object's info.. and even analysis the whole scene.

When you have those ones, you could ‘just draw’ a complete -quite simple- machine (or complete physical system) and visualize it without any CAD system.

---

The original post was deleted by mistake, so, I re-posted it once again. ^^

Do What You Love, a.k.a. ‘Ideal Career’

2010-02-11T03:13:00.000+02:00

I have read this very nice post, How to Find Your Ideal Career, by Roger Lawrence.

Well, Roger’s post found its way to my mind; I have spent the day thinking about my career… and my future! These days I am trying to not give up to find, what Roger called, the “ideal career”… the tasks/things I love doing, good at, and –hopefully- getting paid for!

So.. I am wondering, why (♥ ∩ $) - ✔ is small! (From the sketch)
(♥ ∩ $ ∩ ✔) is very difficult (and impossible in some cases), so I would love to have another option approximates 'ideal'!

And well, the best sentence I liked most in his post is: "There’s tasks you Love. Often these become hobbies (especially if you’re not that great at them)."

That's ironically very true! "especially if ..." ... I think so because simply, as the sketch says, they (tasks you love) will not make you earn money! so, you do not have time to focus on/improve them due to being busy doing chore stuff to get money!

…

But hey, I am actually here to say: "do what you love to do!"... Regardless what!
As long as you believe that you was born for this*, just struggle for it! (*define ‘this’ as whatever you want)

And enjoy the journey! ;)

Oh, one last thing: for God's sake ignore "people"! They do not understand, trust me!

So hey… sing with me: (Lyrics: Born for this ~ Paramore – Album: Riot)
Everybody sing like its the last song you will ever sing
Everybody live like its the last day you will ever see
we were born for this
We were born for this
we were born for this
…

Note:
- I stole the above picture from Roger’s post, I think/hope he would not mind! [^_^]
- Yup, I thought to back blogging again!

And I thought OpenGL was dead! 0.o

2009-02-09T01:09:00.007+02:00

Too long since my last post. I was extremely busy with my graduation project, which I hope to write about it soon.

In the last few days, I was searching about DirectX 10 vs. OpenGL 2.1 Graphics. I am not going to list here the technical differences between both of them, you could check Google for that and as a start you could check this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_OpenGL_and_Direct3D

I am completely unaware about OpenGL, all I was know about it is that OpenGL is the standard specification for graphics libraries and that blah blah blah, and just exactly as the title says: "I thought OpenGL was dead", However, what I actually read in the last few days changed my mind 360 degrees in the other direction.

Check out OpenGL 2.1 vs. DirectX 10 / 9 graphics.

[Source: http://www.winmatrix.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=13647]
[The full thread is actually interesting]

Moreover, check out this list of OpenGL programs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_OpenGL_programs
Awesome titles based on OpenGL.

In my graduation project, I am working on the “simulator module” that supposed to simulate simple classic mechanics physical models. A graphics layer is needed in the simulator, and I am thinking now about OGRE or GLUT toolkit (sort of a wrapper to OpenGL)!

Links:

OpenGL -> http://www.opengl.org/

GLUT toolkit -> http://www.opengl.org/resources/libraries/glut/

WorldWide Telescope: The Universe at Your Fingertips

2008-05-23T06:04:00.001+03:00

Microsoft launched its WorldWide Telescope, bringing the free Web-based program for zooming around the universe to a broad audience.

WorldWide Telescope, enables anybody with a Web connection to browse through the universe, to explore distant galaxies, to dance among the stars. A state-of-the-art combination of software and Web 2.0 services, WorldWide Telescope offers terabytes of high-resolution images, astronomical data, and guided tours that bring the universe to your fingertips.

Lots of computer applications offer to add value to your life. WorldWide Telescope, available for download, delivers the sun, the moon, and the stars—for free.

"The WorldWide Telescope is a powerful tool for science and education that makes it possible for everyone to explore the universe," said Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman, in a statement.

Link:

http://www.worldwidetelescope.org

Others links:

http://research.microsoft.com/news/featurestories/publish/WorldWideTelescope.aspx?0hp=n2

http://www.istartedsomething.com/20080513/capturing-screenshots-from-worldwide-telescope/

Guys, you have to check that "AWESOME" program...

The Building Information Model (BIM)

2008-03-23T19:42:00.003+02:00

The Building Information Model (BIM) is a set of information generated and maintained throughout the life cycle of a building. BIM is the process of generating and managing a building information model.

BIM covers geometry, spatial relationships, geographic information, quantities and properties of building components (for example manufacturers' details). BIM can be used to demonstrate the entire building life cycle including the processes of construction and facility operation. Quantities and shared properties of materials can easily be extracted. Scopes of work can be isolated and defined. Systems, assemblies, and sequences are able to be shown in a relative scale with the entire facility or group of facilities.

BIM is able to achieve such improvements by modeling representations of the actual parts and pieces being used to build a building. This is a substantial shift from the traditional computer aided drafting method of drawing with vector file based lines that combine to represent objects.

Google maps

2007-03-23T17:59:00.000+02:00

Why is Google doing this? Visit the following link and zoom out:

Spot on Google map with zoom level 23 in the middle of nowhere

Is there a map in such detail for the whole world? Is Google going to take over the world? Too many questions and too few answers...

Creativity

2007-02-17T00:06:00.003+02:00

A funny story .. :-)

"A prospective student was being interviewed for admission to a
Prestigious Management Institute. Interviewer said "I shall either
ask you ten easy questions or one really difficult question. Think well
Before you make up your mind!"

The boy thought for a while and said, "My choice is one really
difficult question."

Well, good luck to you, you have made your own choice. Now tell me
This, "What comes first, Day or Night?"

The boy was jolted into reality as his admission depended on the
Correctness of his answer, but he thought for a while and said,
"It's the DAY sir!"

"How" the interviewer asked.

"Sorry sir, you promised me that you will not ask me a SECOND difficult question!"

He was selected!!!! "

Moral of the Story:

Technical Skill is the mastery of complexity,

while Creativity is the mastery of simplicity!!!

Web 2.0

2007-02-12T20:03:00.000+02:00

I will not talking too much about Web 2.0, I will just write a compact definition of Web 2.0 ( according to Tim O'Reilly ):

"Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform. Chief among those rules is this: Build applications that harness network effects to get better the more people use them."

Then, putting this list as an example:

Web 1.0 Web 2.0

DoubleClick --> Google AdSense

Ofoto --> Flickr

Akamai --> BitTorrent

mp3.com --> Napster

Britannica Online --> Wikipedia

personal websites --> blogging

evite --> upcoming.org and EVDB

domain name speculation --> search engine optimization

page views --> cost per click

screen scraping --> web services

publishing --> participation

content management systems --> wikis

directories (taxonomy) --> tagging ("folksonomy")

stickiness --> syndication

Finally, This video about Web 2.0 is really worth watching!

Teddy: Draw in 2D - Outputs in 3D

2007-01-02T22:01:00.000+02:00

Wow, See this video:

Try it:
http://www-ui.is.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~takeo/teddy/teddy/teddy.html

& u can download Teddy package (Java class files).
Now, even a child can make 3D models.

(from my friend: Mohammad Nabil)